Roughly 40 entertainment officials were on hand at new
Castro gay club Beaux Monday night to help gay District 8 Supervisor Scott
Wiener kick off his re-election campaign.

Wiener, 43, has been a champion of nightlife issues and
pushed city officials to conduct an economic impact report on the entertainment
industry shortly after being sworn into office in 2011. It has earned him
support from club and bar owners who have felt public officials devalued their
contributions to tourism, employment and city coffers.

"He understands the intricacies of how policy should be
done," said Terrance Alan, a gay
former entertainment commissioner who co-hosted the event with a number of
owners of gay Castro bars. "We thought it would be great for Castro
nightlife leaders to show their support."

"I want to thank all of my good friends for coming
tonight, even those standing on the sidewalk," Wiener told the crowd.
"Everyone has a right to their own opinion. I welcome that."

Elected in 2010 to represent the Castro, Noe Valley, Diamond
Heights, and Glen Park neighborhoods at City Hall, Wiener is gearing up to seek
re-election to another four-year term next November. In a brief interview at
the October 21 fundraiser, expected to net $10,000 for his campaign, Wiener
sounded confident about his candidacy.

"I hope to be re-elected," said Wiener, a moderate
and former local Democratic Party chair.

So far no prominent progressive has declared their intent to
run against Wiener, despite his critics' repeated pleas over the last two years
for someone to challenge him for the seat. Nonetheless, Wiener said this week
that he expects to be opposed.

One person contemplating doing so is David Waggoner
, 38, a gay attorney who assisted Sheriff Ross
Mirkarimi last year as he fought to keep
his job after his suspension due to domestic violence charges, for which he
pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

Waggoner, a former co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBT
Democratic Club, told the B.A.R. this
week that he has been mulling whether to jump into the race.

"I have been considering it but I haven't decided yet,"
said Waggoner, one of the more vocal critics against the city's Pride board for
its handling of an honor for Army Private Chelsea Manning
, the convicted leaker of classified material to
WikiLeaks.

Wiener has been a lightning rod for criticism from
progressives over the last three years for his ban on public nudity; recent push
to enforce park closure hours; and what his critics contend is a lack of
attention on affordable housing needs. They pointed to the casino theme for the
fundraiser this week as symbolic of his attitude toward those struggling to
remain in San Francisco.

"The message is clear, 'If you don't have money, get
out and stay out,'" wrote nudity activist Mitch Hightower
on Facebook. "It's the same message the
supervisor has been sending to the community since he took office. And with no
one interested in seriously challenging him, we're going to get another four
years of this before he dumps SF and moves on to higher office."

Wiener counters that he has secured funding to expand housing
for homeless LGBT youth and has tried to modernize the city's housing rules to
meet today's needs. This week he announced legislation to allow for garages and
storage units to be turned into in-law units. [See story, page 1.]

"We are experiencing a crisis in housing affordability
in the city," Wiener told attendees of the event. "There are plenty
of people who are couch surfing or they have to leave the city. I've tried to
do my part to rationalize our housing policy."

Political pundits consider Wiener the frontrunner at this
point, as he proved to be a relentless campaigner in 2010. It is also exceedingly
difficult to unseat an incumbent supervisor.

Privately, some progressives express a reluctance at seeing
Wiener be challenged, fearing it would take financial resources and volunteer
efforts away from gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos
's bid next year for a state Assembly seat against
his more moderate opponent, board President David Chiu
.

It is widely expected that Wiener will also seek a state
legislative seat in 2016 when gay state Senator Mark Leno
(D-San Francisco) is termed out of office. Asked about
the speculation surrounding his plans for higher office, Wiener told the B.A.R.
that people often ask him about running for various elected offices.

"I always tell them I am running for re-election to the
board," he said.

Pressed on if he would pledge to serve out a full second
term as supervisor, Wiener responded, "The only thing I am running for is
re-election to the Board of Supervisors."

LGBT alley project receives funds

An effort to beautify Ringold Alley in San Francisco's South
of Market neighborhood and resurrect its ties to LGBT history won full funding
this week.

The alley, located between 8th and 9th streets near Harrison
Street, was the scene of nightly cruising by men looking to have sex with other
men back in SOMA's gay heyday of the 1960s and 1970s. The street was also home
to the first Up Your Alley daytime leather fair in 1985.

LGBT SOMA leaders have fought to turn Ringold into a
pedestrian-friendly corridor and install public art recognizing the alley's
historical and cultural significance to the LGBT community as part of a project
to underground utility lines along the roadway.

Their plans were put in jeopardy when an advisory body voted
in September to award "at least" $1 million in development impact
fees from an adjacent multi-unit housing project to the alley proposal. As the B.A.R.
noted on its blog last week, neighborhood
activists protested that decision and demanded that the Eastern Neighborhoods
Community Advisory Committee fully fund the project, estimated to cost roughly
$2 million.

At its meeting Monday, October 21 where a dozen people,
including gay Entertainment Commissioner Glendon Hyde
and Folsom Street Events Executive
Director Demetri Moshoyannis, urged
it to reconsider its decision, the CAC voted 10-3 to allocate $1.8 million
after the San Francisco County Transportation Authority guaranteed it would be
able to provide the remaining $200,000.

"I am really thrilled," said Jim Meko
, a gay SOMA resident who championed the alley
project and expects work to begin in March.

It is expected that District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim
's office will convene a community meeting to
discuss the LGBT place-making features for the alley.

Bay Area LGBT youth group changes leaders

With an eye to fostering a smooth leadership transition, the
co-founder of a Bay Area LGBT youth group that hosts biennial summits stepped
down this week.

Stanford University junior Jason Galisatus
, 21, resigned Monday, October 21 as executive
director of the Bay Area Youth Summit, which he helped launch as an all-youth-led
nonprofit in 2011. Under BAYS rules for membership, Galisatus could have
remained in his position until June 2015 when he is expected to graduate with a
BA in political science.

But he told the B.A.R.
last week that he was "leaving early to foster new talent" and
intends to assist his successor, Stanford sophomore Charles Stotz,
over the next year.

In a statement, Stotz, 19 and a Palo Alto native, said he
wants to strengthen the infrastructure of the BAYS board.

"As a collective whole, we aim to refocus and enhance
our existing programs so that we can better serve our constituents,"
stated Stotz. "By doing so, I believe we can build stronger and more
effective communities of LGBT and allied youth."

As for Galisatus, he plans to remain engaged with "the
community and continue my advocacy through the political and philanthropic
realm."

Postscript: Last
Thursday night the Peninsula Stonewall Democrats, the LGBT political group
featured in last week's Political Notebook, won chartership by the San Mateo County
Democratic Party. With official recognition the club can now send a r
class=null>epresentative to the pre-endorsement process for state races in the
next election cycle.

Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for
Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column reported
on gay SF Supervisor David Campos' first Assembly bid fundraiser.